Sealant-filled environmentally protective enclosures are employed to protect cable connections. Such enclosures may be used to environmentally protect the connections between telecommunications signal transmission cables, the electrical power transmission cables, etc. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,835 to Huynh-Ba et al. discloses a gel-filled enclosure including a pair of cavitied bodies that are hingedly connected and closable in clam shell fashion. When the enclosure is closed about the cables, gel is typically displaced and thereby elongated and seals about a cable splice or the like.
However, such enclosures are typically adapted to suitably seal about a limited range of connection/cable sizes. Additionally, for relatively large connections and cables, the force required to close an enclosure about the connection/cables may be unduly large. However, such enclosures are typically adapted to suitably seal about a limited range of connection/cable sizes. Additionally, for relatively large connections and cables, the force required to close an enclosure about the connection/cables may be unduly large. In general, for larger enclosures and cable/connector volumes, there may be large difference in volume from the minimum to the maximum intended cable/connector configurations. As a result, it may be difficult to provide an amount of gel in the enclosure sufficient to properly seal the smallest intended configuration but which will still allow the operator to easily close the enclosure. When a large volume of gel must be displaced to accommodate a large cable/connector, the gel may extrude through an end of the enclosure or even climb over side walls (in which case, the gel may accumulate at a latch area). These actions may generate substantial internal pressure in the enclosure that makes the enclosure difficult to close.